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And when the channels decided to step in to regional channels market, it opened up a Pandora’s box, opening avenues for many operators to step in.

When Chinese tycoon Li Ka-Shing decided to launch Star TV from Hong Kong, the basic idea was to offer American programmes to the rest of the world.

What it did was to start something, which revolutionized Indian television.

From just one satellite channel in 1992, there are now about 417 satellite channels in less than two decades.

At a national level, in the last two decades, one has seen many regional, national and political channels trying to gain mileage, with often regionalism. With more than 130 million TV households in India, vernacularisation and regionalization is often bound to happen. This is because the business of TV news is extremely lucrative.

There was a time when programmes like Hum Log, Ramayan, Mahabharat, Buniyad, used to earn maximum TRPs and the Hindi GEC were ruling the roost. The main reasons were – either there were not many regional channels, or they were not good enough to attract the audience, or they simply didn’t have the reach to be available on common man.

The increase of regional channels and satellite distribution has been estimated to have grown at the rate of 20 per cent every year and it’s expected to be on an upward trend in the years to come.

And Bengal seems to be new market, which is on the radar of every one. Despite Hindi being the common language of communication, Bengali-language channels hold the three leading slots, in terms of market share, amongst the top 10 channels in the GEC with a combined share of over 32 per cent.

According to ratings firm TAM Media Research Pvt. Ltd, Star Jalsha had a 47 percent viewership share among Bengali GECs in June, Zee Bangla had 22 percent and ETV Bangla 15 percent. Among Bengali news channels, 24 Ghanta TV had a 36 percent share, while Star Ananda had 35 percent.

There are other regional channels as well, which have done well in the past and hold a genuine threat, but it’s the Bengal that everyone is looking at. Besides southern markets such as Andra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu, West Bengal is emerging as a stronghold for regional players.

And if the top 10 programmes in the last four weeks across all channels are anything to go by, Bengali-language channels have established a near monopoly.

According to the TAM report, Star Jalsha tops the list of Bengali GEC with 47 per cent viewer ship. It wouldn’t be wrong to say that Star Jalsha played a pivotal role in rewriting Benagali GEC market.

It became the market leader within 32 weeks of going on air. According to a TAM data in 2009, seven out of top 10 and 36 out of top 100 programmes in West Bengal were from Star Jalsa. ‘Bou Kotha Kou’ was the number one fiction show in Bengali GEC with 7.0 average TVR.

The total regional advertising market, including print and television, stood at Rs 2046.2 crore in 2007-08.
Of the total advertising market in India, the national versus regional ratio was 81:19 per cent, clearly skewed in favour of national advertising.

One of the reason, why Bengali channels are doing well, and it won’t be wrong to say that it’s even giving the Hindi GEC a good run for money, is that it has indigenous programmes, which suits the audience.

According to a survey by aMap analysis, the Bengali GEC has grown over the last two and a half years. Zee Bangla, Aakash Bangla and ETV Bangla have been the oldest players, but it’s Star Jalsha, which changed the market scene.

With the launch of Mahua Bangla, the number of Bengali channels have increased to 14, and with two more in the pipeline, it’s a testimony of the fact that they are on an increasing curve with each day.

But despite this Amin Lakhani, Principal Partner, Mindshare Fulcrum, feels that there is lack of channels in West Bengal market in the entertainment genre. “There are not enough channels in West Bengal market in the entertainment genre,” he says.

“When Star Jalsha entered Bengal the total TV advertising market size in Bengal was around Rs 190 Cr to Rs 200 Cr. Today it has almost grown twice. Although Zee Bangala and ETV Bangla was already there, but Star Jalsha entered into that market and redefined the viewership. Jalsha over shot others with 50% to 60%.

“According to me that market is yet to reach its threshold, with more retail players entering into that market, there is an opportunity for TV channels to leverage this growing market. I feel when there is volatility there will be opportunity,” says Lakhani.

“Some time back another channel, Rooposhi Bangla also entered into this market and was able to garner 50 to 60 GRPs. Hence I feel there is an opportunity if someone comes with good content and the distribution is Robust. Market is receptive and TV users in the east are open to sample good Bangala content,” he adds.

This means the advertisers too can rub their hands with a smile on their face, as they will have more options to choose from. “More channels mean more opportunity and more association option for advertisers. So they would all be happy,” he says.

With HLL, Loreal, Heinz, Glaxo, J&J ,Vodafone ,P&G, Reckitt Benckiser , Perfetti Van Melle as the front runners in the advertising, the market is only expected to expand. Also local retail advertisers are heavy TV spenders with clients like Adi Mohini Mohan Kanjilal ,Anjali Jwellers leading the pack.

Ask Nikhil Rangnekar, Executive Director India West and he would tell you that the reason for the rise is due to the quality. “I think this is a function of quality of content rather than the quantity. When Star Jalsha was launched, nobody expected it to dominate the market the way it is doing currently,” he says.

“The lead that it enjoys over the other channels suggests superior programming, right mix of genres, adequate distribution etc. To me, new channels with the right strategy can create inroads in the West Bengal market but they will get a share of the Bangla GECs pie rather than expanding it,” he adds.

Meanwhile, Amit Ray, President Lintas feels, that post the entry of Star Jalsha, the market seems to have polarized.

“Earlier both Zee & ETV dominated now it is completely dominated by Jalsha. For any “perfect competition” market this is bad as the advertisers suffers a lot and any lopsided market eventually draws more players attempting to break a single channel strong hold,” he says.

“Mind you TV channel business is essentially a content creation and content delivery business, hence any fortune can change any time. Hence there will always be corporate optimism to make every market more equidistributed.

“The regional focus will now grow even more as advertisers are realizing that local language are both cheaper and more effective for many markets in India, when compared to a central language, and this is more true for advertised communication than content,” he adds.

Agrees Ray, “I think the low entry cost compared to Hindi GECs in terms of cost of content and distribution and weaker competition in terms of quantity as well as quality in the regional space makes it attractive to enter.”

So will the market be able to accommodate all the advertisers?

Subhendu Das, Vice-President, Rupashi Bangla, feels that the market has the capacity to have more players. “Yes proliferation is the name of the game. Year to year the market is growing and as recession is loosening. The market can definitely accommodate a wide number of players,” he says.

Das knows that with stiff competition, the channel has a tough task to stay in the hunt and for that he is leaving no stone unturned. “We look to constantly improve and give better viewing experience and it will eventually be the main factor in the long run,” he says.

All in all, the grass is greener on the Bengal side as compared to Hindi GECs in every sense and it won’t be long, if it outruns others in the competition.

Data Sources: Tam Data, aMap analysis